PREFATORY NOTE 



In writing this book I have, with permissions, 

 made use of papers that I had the honour of 

 contributing to "The Times" "The Cornhill 

 Magazine" " The Pall Mall Gazette" " The 

 Monthly Review" " The Fishing Gazette" 

 " The County Gentleman" and " The Even- 

 ing Standard and St. James s Gazette" I 

 trust, however, that the volume will not be 

 regarded as being a compilation of writings 

 already published. It is not so. The book 

 is not produced merely because the papers 

 had been written. The papers were written 

 as a preliminary sketch of the book. Ex- 

 cepting in the case of the contribution to 

 "Cornhill" "The Otters Stone Poo/," only 

 portions of them have been used, and the 



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